66 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



flocks. They are very sympathetic and soHcitous 

 about the welfare of their fellows that chance 

 to get into trouble. Any old Tern hunter will 

 tell you that, if one be shot down, its friends will 

 at once come and fly anxiously about emitting 

 their little squeaky cries of anxiety. It was thus 

 often possible to bag almost the entire company. 

 When a flock was seen and the gunners found 

 difficulty in obtaining the first bird to serve as a 

 decoy, they were induced often to approach the 

 boat by the simple expedient of tying a hand- 

 kerchief to a stick and throwing it into the air. 

 The sight of this object, which at a distance 



somewhat resembles a falling Tern, usually 

 brought the birds on the run. 



Like many other Terns the nest of this species 

 is merely a slight depression hollowed out in the 

 sand. The eggs are usually two in number, al- 

 though as many as four are found at times. 

 I f not disturbed these Terns sometimes become 

 quite tame and on more than one occasion I have 

 been privileged to walk within fifteen feet of a 

 resting bird before it took flight. Mated birds 

 are very attentive to each other, and one of the 

 most charming sights of a visit to a Least Tern 

 colony is to see one of these little, gentle crea- 

 tures feed his mate as she sits brooding her eggs 

 on the shimmering sandy shore. 



T. Gilbert Pe.\rson. 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



LEAST TERN (; nat. size) 

 The most dainty of all the American sea-birds 



BLACK TERN 



Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis (Gmelin) 



A. O. U. .N'umber 77 See Color Plate 8 



Other Names. — American Black Tern ; Short-tailed 

 Tern ; Semipalmated Tern ; Surinam Tern. 



General Description. — Length, 9 inches. Upper 

 parts. leaden-gray ; head and under parts, black. Bill, 

 very sharp and slender, shorter than head ; wings, long 

 and pointed with no distinct markings ; tail, short and 

 but slightly forked: feet, webbed only to middle of toes. 



Color. — Adults in Summer: Head and neck and 

 entire under parts as far as the tail-coverts, jet black; 

 under tail-coverts, pure white; on back of neck and 

 between shoulders the black shades into leaden-gray, 

 which color extends over entire upper parts to the ends 

 of tail-feathers: primaries, grayish-black: outer second- 

 aries similar, inner secondaries like back: shoulder of 

 wing, narrowly white-bordered; bill, black; gape, car- 

 mine; feet, dark red-brown; iris, brown. Adults in 

 Winter: Forehead, sides of head, neck all around and 



entire under parts, pure white; crown, mixed gray and 

 white, darker on nape with a dusky stripe above and 

 another behind eye ; upper parts, pale lead-gray ; many 

 feathers with white edges. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: On dead reeds in marshes; 

 a careless structure of a few dead sedges and grass. 

 Eggs : 2 to 4, pale brownish-olive heavily marked with 

 blotches and spots of light brown and sepia. 



Distribution. — North and South America ; breeds 

 from southwestern British Columbia. Great Slave Lake, 

 southern Keewatin, and western Ontario south to inland 

 lakes of California, Nevada, Colorado, northern Mis- 

 souri, and northern Ohio; rare on east coast of United 

 States in autumn : winters from Me.xico to Panama, 

 Peru, and Chile; accidental in Alaska. Nova Scotia, 

 and New Brunswick; casual in West Indies and the 

 Bahamas. 



